Dear Editor,
I just want to let parents and coaches involved in the Orchard
Valley Youth Soccer League know that their children are at risk of
becoming victims of the political intrigue which apparently
pervades this organization.
Orchard Valley a Soccer League Nightmare; Why Isn’t English Respected?
Dear Editor,
I just want to let parents and coaches involved in the Orchard Valley Youth Soccer League know that their children are at risk of becoming victims of the political intrigue which apparently pervades this organization.
Two teams have had their coach “dropped” without any notice nor any reason given nor recourse allowed. The teams have been given the option of tryouts and being assigned a new coach/team. Some of these boys have been playing together for five years and are a team. This particular coach is well loved by the parents and boys on the team, he goes well above and beyond what a regular coach would do for his teams. He collects some of the boys from school to get them to practice/games, he subsidizes their fees when there is financial hardship in the family.
When a reason was sought from OVYSL for their actions they say they are not obliged to supply any and they expect no formal issues with their decision as they have done it before and the teams are just expected to drop out of the league, which the league is apparently happy about.
So, if our boys are to stay together as a team they can join another league, either in Salinas or south San Jose, which is fine, however, if the boys are to practice locally there are no available soccer fields because OVYSL has a monopoly on all of them including the fields of the Gilroy Unified School District and probably Morgan Hill School District.
I am extremely disappointed about this action by the OVYSL. I have been involved in some level with this organization for seven years and I have three sons who play soccer. In fees just for my family this adds up to $1,000 plus fundraising every year!
I cannot understand how the OVYSL can afford to let up to 36 families just go elsewhere, apart from the ill will generated by this action. I certainly fail to see how they were looking after the interests of the youth in this situation.
My second issue is with the people in this community who demand that everyone should speak Spanish (regarding the article about the hiring of an assistant principal at Brownell Middle School ). When I researched coming to live here in this country the language spoken was stated as being English.
When people come to live in another country I think they should make every effort to conform to the customs and language of that country. I find it very frustrating that having filled out all the appropriate forms and paid the appropriate fees and obtained all my documentation and picked up the vernacular so that I could be understood (I have the advantage that my first language is English) that other people seem to make no effort whatsoever to adjust to their surroundings but instead demand that everyone else conforms to theirs.
Judy Williams, Gilroy
